If Hollywood has taught us anything, it's that the best entry in a popular franchise will always have a stylized "2" somewhere in its title. Oh, but not Paul Hollywood. Noooo, he's saying that Motorstorm's first sequel won't be distinguished by a number, but rather its "Pacific Rift" subtitle. Also, you'll notice it has a lot more trees than the last game.

Speaking at Sony's PlayStation Day 2008 event, the creative director at Evolution Studios talked up some of the features in the upcoming Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. Boasting twice the number of tracks and four times as many racers in local multiplayer (total: four) than the PlayStation 3 launch title, Pacific Rift puts racers in a tropical locale, one filled with interactive vegetation technology. It's a fancy way of saying that when you're playing chicken with a rather large tree, you'd best be inside one of the game's new monster trucks. Another benefit of hurtling through lush island terrain can be found in bodies of water -- splashing through them can cool down your engine temperature.

We're sure to learn and see more of Motorstorm 2 Motorstorm: Pacific Rift closer to its planned Fall release.

Those eager to strap themselves into inelegant hunks of metal and hurtle across slippery jungle tracks take note: You are insane. Also, you might be interested in the upcoming Motorstorm 2 (working title, apparently), which takes the best-selling PS3 launch game's off-road racing into the "unpredictability of a remote Pacific Island." There you'll encounter 16 new multi-route tracks and impossibly huge monster trucks.

Thankfully, you won't be experiencing the "thick swamps, dense jungle, towering peaks and steaming volcanoes" on your own, as the online racing mode will cater for up to 16 players. Motorstorm 2 also promises a revolutionary new feature: "Split-screen Multiplayer" for up to four players! We hope that means the sequel will actually feel complete, as opposed to feeling dependent on patches and DLC over the course of several months.

Motorstorm is expected to return on PlayStation 3 this Fall. Until then, you can watch the embedded trailer which likely isn't very representative of the game -- again.

We've officially known a sequel to Motorstorm was in the works since last September (and logically known it for much longer) but we've been short on details. That changed today when the BBC reported that Motorstorm 2 would be released in time for Christmas and would feature four-player split-screen (huzzah!).

The piece also revealed that players would "race around a lush island environment, full of interactive vegetation." You say "interactive vegetation," we say "hottest new buzzword of 2008 con-firmed."